The Ministry of Petroleum and Minerals has identified a number of fuel stations that mix unknown materials with gasoline 91 to change its color to be similar to gasoline 95, a source in the ministry told Al-Eqtisadiah newspaper.
The Ministry of Commerce embarked on field inspection campaigns once it had received the report by the Ministry of Petroleum, with intensive supervision and penalties on violators.
“The Ministry of Commerce made intensive inspection rounds at fuel stations and checked the quality of gasoline, imposing severe penalties on violators,” said a source at the ministry. He said foreign laborers had been mixing to make the cheaper gasoline look more expensive, to gain more money.
The same source said that the ministry is assuming this task in compliance with the Royal Court directions to circulate the procedures that address smuggling and abusing fuel products, including the random tests that the ministry of commerce will conduct to check the quality of the fuel there.
Other experts put the blame on mechanisms of illegal foreign employment, which involves commercial concealment. They said that this allows for fraud against consumers who pay without their knowing.
All parties concerned said that there should be a real and strict supervision, with prices defined and clear for each product. In addition, the number of random fuel stations extending outside cites and remote places should be reduced, with a specified clear distance between each station. Road signs should indicate the direction and distance to the service centers along the way.
Experts from the Ministry of Municipality and Rural Affairs, and the Ministry of Islamic Affairs and Endowments, Call and Guidance, demanded recently that gasoline stations and rest houses on Al-Haramain Road to Makkah and Al-Hijrah Road to Madinah should be shut down if owners did not comply with the provisions and regulations of gasoline stations and mosques located within their area. The reports cited the low level of service provided in the majority of these facilities, although they are located on roads that pilgrims often use. The experts said committees should tighten the controls on gasoline stations to ensure their compliance with regulations and instructions.
